Early Returns

Four days of action in the books, just a few notes.  We're looking at December 18 for the first rankings, I think.  Still short a lot of data and a half-dozen standing sheets.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Three tournaments took place on Saturday, as far as I know.  The Tom Irwin Memorial Crusader Classic took place at Bowler City, and dybuk has his customary excellent write up here.  The South Plainfield boys more than justified my "keep an eye" designation, winning the event with an outstanding 3126 set.  West Milford's boys, who I didn't even cover preseason, were excellent as well, shooting 2907.  Pascack Valley & Indian Hills were good as expected (3rd & 5th respectively), and Mahwah was another nice surprise, sneaking into 4th.  The champs' Shaun Boffard (708) posted the day's only 700, with Andrew Finke of West Milford (697) and Angelo Salici of SP (696) just missing.

The unranked Mahwah girls were an even bigger surprise, taking out like six teams that I had on my preseason radar and shooting a solid 2381.  Perhaps we have this year's Teaneck?  The original Teaneck took 2nd, followed by Paramus Catholic, whose Victoria Vucak shot the only girls 600 (623),

Defending TOC champs East Brunswick rolled to a 90-pin victory over GMC-mates South Brunswick in the Bob James tournament at Strarthmore.  The big story to me was the impressive (2919) 3rd place finish for Morris Knolls, who is a true contender in the NJAC South. Tom McKeon of Keansburg just missed perfection with a 298, but I don't have full individual results.

On the girls side, Howell, edged Edison by just 13 pins to take the title, 2280-2267.

Preseason #1 Toms River North girls put together a huge 5-game Baker set to put away the Mustang Kickoff Classic at Ocean Lanes, with Brick Township, Manchester and Brick Memorial completing the top 4, all over 2650.

The Brick Township boys made a huge comeback in the Baker session to take their title as well, completing a 3084 set that outdistanced Brick Memorial and Toms River South, all over 3000, and St. Rose at 2896.

PRESEASON WHIFFS

I figured I'd entertain you with what look like my biggest omissions in each category at this early juncture. These are teams not on the preseason ranking page at all, and individuals not mentioned as all-state, returning stars, or up&coming.

BOYS TEAMS

North Brunswick
These guys came out of nowhere to open the GMC season 3-0/11.5-.5, shooting 2828, 3259 and 3043. Senior David Burrows has been outstanding, firing 677-630-673, with junior Gavin Lugo and freshman Zachary Leinwohl doing plenty of damage as well.

Seneca
Really good last year, but I though the graduation losses would hurt them a lot more than they did. 3059 set against Cherokee featured Eddie Cashwell, Cole Ludwikowski and Zachary Malcolm all over 650.

West Milford & Morris Knolls
Mentioned above; don't have any other results yet, but I'm looking forward to them.

Toms River East
It's always the Shore team you don't mention.  I had some questions about their depth, but they've looked great so far, led by Dennis Carrino and Ryan McIntire.

other surprises: Iselin Kennedy, Egg Harbor, Mahwah

GIRLS TEAMS

East Brunswick
Holy cow: four full sets in the books already and their game average is over 161, which would've been top 13 last year, despite a rough day at the James tournament. Madison Steinbeck and Sydney Ramos look like they want their senior season to be special.

Mahwah
It's one tournament, and I don't wanna go crazy, but they only averaged 138 last year and they blasted that by quite a bit behind freshman Michaella Raab.

Ewing
Nearly always the best team in their league, and sometimes among the state's elite, this version of Ewing looks much improved including some good scores from Kayla Ricketts and Jazmyn Willis.

Woodbridge
3rd at the James and a strong 2355 in a dual meet on Tuesday.  Eliza Abreu started her GMC season off well with a big 579.

BOYS INDIVIDUALS

Josh Lipko, Senior, Cherry Hill West
Opened the season 735-706.  You have our attention, sir.

Armen Shamim, Sophomore, East Brunswick
We know how dangerous EB is, but Shamim's huge leap forward puts them on an even higher level. 714-624-715 to start the season.

Zachary Malcolm, Senior, Seneca
Mentioned before; shot a 2-game 438 at the Mustang before a 692 in the dual meet opener.

David MacGillivray, Junior, Barnegat
Strong 2-game 478 followed by a 635 in the first team match.

David Burrows, Senior, North Brunswick
220 average through 9 games.

Kevin DiBernardo, Sophomore, Toms River South
These guys never run out of talented bowlers: this one's averaging 218 through 9 games.

Nick Thies, Senior, Jefferson
632-668 start in the NJAC-North

GIRLS INDIVIDUALS

Julia Kreider, Senior, South Hunterdon
After averaging 141 last year, Kreider opened 2017-18 with 3 200's and a 620 set.

Eleni Feggulis, Junior, South River
A huge 676 on Monday puts her at 205 in the early GMC season.

Madison Steinbeck, Senior, East Brunswick
Rolling at a 190 clips through 9 games for the upstart Bears.

Victoria Johnson, Senior, Edison
Put up the second-high set at the James, and shot 539 in her first team match.

Victoria Smith, Senior, Manchester
Really should have just listed the whole team; put up a 2-game 395 at the Mustang.

There are others, to be sure.  As more data trickles in, we'll shout out to more kids and teams.